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Read other letters about this article
Until then --
bucky1 --
A couple of quotes for the Brit guy ...
Rowan claimed:
Now as to the goody goody libertarians, I agree completely with Mike Sulzer, who said while I was either asleep or hiding my shame and not visiting the thread, "If libertarianism says that everything would be great if everyone would leave everyone else alone except for voluntary interactions, then the realist would say: but everyone won't. And because of that, and in reaction to that, we have governments," except that I would go further, and say that anyone who claims to believe that in the absence of "government" (and at this point one begins to wonder how they define "government") people would spontaneously revert to being nice to each other, is not just being naive, they are being disingenuous, by which I mean, they are sinister, cynical liars.
"Even Noam Chomsky? Major statement there fellow; major accusation."
What is Noam Chomsky's field of expertise? Philosophy? No. Political science? No. Linguistics.
And where does he live his life? M.I.T./Ivory Tower.
Now for a few favorites quotes be the people Rowan says are cynical liars:
"Anarchism is a tendency in the history of human thought & action which seeks to identify coercive, authoritarian, & hierarchic structures of all kinds & to challenge their legitimacy — & if they cannot justify their legitimacy, which is quite commonly the case, to work to undermine them & expand the scope of freedom." — Noam Chomsky
But it isn't the only "tendency" in that history; there is the counter "tendency" that recognizes that the person who mugs you on the street isn't likely to be working in gov't.
And, I note he makes NO mention of responsibility, which in every society of more than one individual is inextricably intertwined with each freedom. Why? Because in every society of more than one individual, freedom is limited by the existence of those in addition to the one.
Unless that one "Libertarian" ignores the reality that freedom is so limited, and ignores or simply doesn't believe in the "personal responsibility" mantra, and says: "Screw everyone else. All that matters is ME!"
"So I said good-bye to government, & I gave my reason; That a really good religion, is a form of treason." — Kurt Vonnegut, anarchist, Cat's Cradle
Mmm, yes: fiction is supporter of "Libertarianism".
"Many people say that government is necessary because some men cannot be trusted to look after themselves, but anarchists say that government is harmful because no men can be trusted to look after anyone else." -- Nicolas Walter (1924-2000) British journalist, philosopher, atheist, anarchist.
The reality is, of course, that some men cannot be trusted -- regardless whether they are "looking after" anyone. Anyone other than themselves.
That's the history of the human race, the counter-"tendency" to which is the fantasy that if we were to go back to before it was discovered that gov't is necessary, then gov't wouldn't be necessary.
"If I had understood the situation a bit better I should probably have joined the anarchists." (Extract letter, October 1937 written by George Orwell to his friend Jack Common).
Orwell, being the exception to the norm, was perfect. Ergo, his views are perfect, infallible.
"Anarchism has but one infallible, unchangeable motto, 'Freedom.' Freedom to discover any truth, freedom to develop, to live naturally and fully." -Lucy Parsons (for the ladies, of cource)
Mmm, yes: "infallibility". Freedom to mug, rob, rape, without the "oppression" of gov't putting one's ass in jail for it.
"There is no horror, no cruelty, sacrilege, or perjury, no imposture, no infamous transaction, no cynical robbery, no bold plunder or shabby betrayal that has not been or is not daily being perpetrated by the representatives of the states, under no other pretext than those elastic words, so convenient & yet so terrible, for reasons of state." — Michael Bakunin
And the same long list of adjectival sins are committed every day by non-gov't criminals who claim to be about "freedom" -- with no mention of responsibility.
"Liars all, Rowan?"
Either liars, or lunatic.
